Friday, March 29, 2013

Just over 2 minutes of paddling fun crossing a Sandbar half way through the race. Once the canoe goes of course slightly at these kind if speeds, it is very difficult to correct. We recovered nicely and the 6th wave later we managed to get a second chance. Heaps of fun and we learnt a lot. Thanks everyone, it was a great experience and race. A few more sections of the GoPro footage can be found at the eljeiffel YouTube site.

Now everyone’s a photographer, [..] It’s part of the language of what we do. All you have to do is walk down the street. And with Facebook or Tumblr there are infinite possibilities. But museums should be devoted to the original thing. That will continue to give the public a reason to see what’s here.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Can I suggest that you print out and save some of the digital images you currently take of family and friends? You may not always keep track of the digital work that we make these days but the sheer physical-ness of a printed object makes it a more valuable artifact. One that's easier to access and harder to throw away.

Amazing to me what power there is locked in a single image.

via Old School Instagram. We used to call them Polaroids (*) by Kirk Tuck (*).

Daido Moriyama was born in 1938 along with a twin brother, who died when Daido was two. [..]

I think little known fact has a hugh bearing on Moriyama's photographic direction and subsequent career. More On Being A Twin (*) later. Back to the Photography:

Moriyama’s images convey the artist’s boldly intuitive exploration of urban mystery, memory, and photographic invention. Moriyama’s work immerses us in the melancholic beauty of life at its most ordinary.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

I think that the most important thing that photography can do is to relate both the photographer and the viewer’s memories (*). At first sight a photograph looks straightforward as it slices off a scene or a moment in time. But the images that photography captures are actually ambiguous (*). And it’s because of this ambiguity (*) that I like photography..

Sunday, March 17, 2013

[..] a photograph that reveals itself - that is to say, reveals ourselves - only once we slow down long enough to allow the flood of memories (*) to ease back into consciousness. [..]

The payoff comes not when we recognize the structure of its photographic composition or the delicacy of its photographic exposure, but rather when we allow it to bring forth what we can best experience (*) by closing our eyes and remembering (*).

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Seth Godin (*) writes about what I think is about Letting Go (*) when all seems lost and pointless:

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, don’t waste it.

You’ve already won (or you’ve already lost). Right now, you can choose to do what’s in your heart, you can bring your real work to the world, instead of a lesser version, a version you think the market wants. After all, what do you have to lose?

When it feels like it’s hopeless or when it appears to be a lock, why not?

So you bring your true self to the work, your unadulterated effort, without negative self-talk and the sanding off of the interesting edges. Instead of compromise, you bring us vision.

Of course, when we see that reality, the kamiwaza of what you’re able to do when you’re not second guessing or giving up, the odds of transformation go way up. In fact, you haven't already lost, because your magical, vulnerable work changes everything.

I experienced this in Prague (*) and the lead up campaign in which we lost Jenny (*).

Somehow,just 4 days after we farewelled Jenny (*) and 10 days off training, I "pulled" the best water trial of my career and found myself one of the top ranked paddlers in the Australian Masters Mixed Team, a first (and only time) for me. A week later I would come down with the flu and a nasty sinus infection which lead to me having a 10 day break from paddling and at one stage I thought the campaign was all over for me, as I could not "shake" the infection. As it was I should have had a bit more of a break, but I did not want it "toss it in"

In this time off, I lost my usual seat in the boat and after a bit of "soul searching", I forgave all, including myself (mostly) and just decided to let go (*) of everything and just go with it.

Had the time of my life and this little snippet of wisdom from Seth resonates most when I think of that Prague (*) Campaign just under 4 years ago now.

I tried to explain some this here (*) and here (*) a long time ago, but I like what Seth has written here.

I hope Seth will one day write more about how to accept the result of rare moments like these (but I suspect that this is the "winning" way of responding to Seth's post), something which has not been easy and I struggle with even to do this day (and maybe the reason I wrote this unplanned and unexpected post).

Friday, March 15, 2013

The camera gazes at all with the same equanimity and finds each person, in his or her own way, dignified, lovable and even beautiful. Walking, the most democratic form of transportation, lends itself to metaphor: we walk into the future, we walk the line, we walk the walk.

via Walking the Walk, in a Rhapsodic New York Ballet / ‘Street,’ at the Metropolitan Museum (*) by Ken Johnson (*).

Thursday, March 14, 2013

I think Winogrand's attraction to photographing people was psychological. He liked to play with figures as compositional figures, but more importantly he liked to get inside their heads. Many of his photos are like X-Ray visions. They burrow right into the thoughts of the characters. It's not easy to make photos like that without bogging down in sentimentality, without the thoughts becoming the primary subject. I see a lot of portraits nowadays concerned with that penetration, but they often leave the rest of life behind. Winogrand somehow combined X-Rays with surface level reality in a way that I think is rare. I know I can't do it.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Though the images themselves are full of composure, there is something magnificently manic about Maier’s habit: she was a kind of non-fiction outsider artist, insistent on a record, constantly clicking a shutter as if to prove that the only way of being was looking.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Tim Levinson (*) talks to Bernard Zuel (*) on Empathy (*) and Struggle (*) in creating in song writing:

''Part of who I am is, I think, I can empathise (*),'' he says. ''I used to think it was the most normal thing in the world but I realise it's one of the qualities I've been left with, for better or for worse.

''In songwriting, quite often you either come from a point of view of struggle … whether that be heartbreak or circumstances. That allows you to write with conviction.

''For me, I have often seen little windows of that struggle (*) or that heartbreak and it gives me an access point I don't necessarily fully understand. I look at those little cracks of light that come through as an invitation to look into it more.''

via 'The best music is written with conviction' (*) by Bernard Zuel (*).

Friday, March 8, 2013

First of all, I have to say my collection is really, truly personal. There are many known photographs, classic photographs, in the collection to be sure. But there are more than that many photographs which are unknown or hardly known or certainly not what you would consider important - but they are important to me for my own personal reasons. It’s my life and just like in your life you’ll see certain pictures you can relate (*) to, you want it because of your experiences (*). So it’s that way with my collection.

we're in a business and an art where everything is subjective (*). There is no objective (*) measure. Our compulsion to move the technical game forward is an admission that we constantly seek a metric. A means of gauging value.

via When the tools trump the art we all go home. (*) by Kirk Tuck (*).

Kirk writes about photography, but could just as much about paddling. As they say, there are many ways to skin a cat, and so it is with selection processes in any sport, paddling being my most recent obsession (just on 8 years now - this being my 8th CNY with Pacific Dragons). Having been in many State and National Teams under various coaches, I have experienced just about every selection process, from completely subjective to completely objective and many variations in between. In my experience, the best thing to do, particularly for the marginal paddler like me, is just to go with the coaches way. Coaches coach and paddlers paddle. And so it is.

Went to photograph the large scale photos in the Park at lunchtime and saw Tom hovering around the area. I knew who he was as i had seen him speak about his photograph the previous Saturday. The filtered light through the trees was magnificent and I asked to Tom to pose in front of his photo. He was a bit bemused but was kind enough to agree to my request and positioning instructions (how bold was I back then). This is what turned out. I like it, particularly the light. This photo has been siting in the archive for over eight years now and I am glad I did have a look through it the other day.